Able et al : Paralichthys dentatus early life history 



10 m- within each 25-km- block in the survey area 

 were averaged for all years combined. Additional P. 

 dentatus collections were made with a 0.5-m net (1.8 

 mm mesh) during 1987 from Little Sheepshead Creek 

 which is immediately adjacent to Little Egg Inlet, New 

 Jersey (Fig. 1). Lengths of lan'ae (Table 4) were record- 

 ed as millimeters (mm) notochord length (NL) or stan- 

 dard length (SL). Lengths for transforming individuals 

 and larger young-of-the-year (YOY) (Figs. 4,5) are pre- 

 sented as total length (TL). For purposes of com- 

 parison, SL = 0.650 + 0.778 TL. 



Our assignment of P. dentatus specimens to the YOY 

 group from inshore and offshore data sets was based 

 on size frequencies and ages derived from scales. Age- 

 ing criteria were based, in part, on the protocol devel- 

 oped by Smith et al. (1981). Data for YOY collected 

 over the continental shelf were taken during fall 

 liottom-trawl surveys conducted by the Northeast 

 Fisheries Center, NOAA. Sampling methodology for 

 these surveys is described by Azarovitz (1981). 



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#/ lOm^ /rectangle 



40 



38 







• 01-25 

 . 26- 50 



• 51-10 36 



• > 1 



74 7 2 7.0 68 66_ 



Figure 2 



Distribution and abundance (cumulative mean no./ 

 10 nr of sea surface) oi Paralichthijs dentatus eggs 

 from MARMAP collections during 1979-81. 1984. 

 and 1985. 



Results 



Offshore egg distribution 



Composite collections of Paralichthys dentatus eggs 

 during 1979-85 indicate that spawning occurs from 

 Georges Bank to Cape Hatteras from nearshore to the 

 edge of the continental shelf (Fig. 2). Eggs were most 

 abundant in samples from subareas II-V (Fig. 1, 

 Table 2). Eggs were collected as early as September 

 (except in subarea I) and as late as December and 

 January in subareas L IL and IV, although the number 



of stations sampled was small (subarea III) or zero 

 (subareas IV and V) in December (Table 2). In all 

 subareas the highest frequency of occurrence and 

 greatest abundance occurred in October and November 

 (Table 2). 



Offshore larvae distribution 



The spatial distribution of larvae was similar to that 

 of the eggs except that larvae were much less numer- 

 ous in subarea I (Fig. 3, Table 3). In general, larvae 

 were most abundant in subareas II, III, and V (Table 3). 



